College Football Rankings 2017: Projected Week 8 AP Top 25 Poll
By Zach Bigalke
Washington State is due to fall and fall hard in this week’s AP Top 25. Coming into their road game against Cal, the Cougars were all the way up to No. 8 in the nation. Nothing went right for Mike Leach’s team as they fell 37-7 in Berkeley. They didn’t just lose against the Golden Bears, but Washington State was exposed as a College Football Playoff pretender.
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Luke Falk was sacked nine times, threw five interceptions, and coughed up a strip-sack that was returned by the Golden Bears for a touchdown. No longer is Washington State among the ranks of the unbeaten, and as a result of how they lost and the opponent that took them down the Cougars will end up somewhere in the 20s of the poll this week.
A Pac-12 championship is still in play, but anything bigger than a New Year’s Six game is likely out of the cards. Washington State probably could have afforded a loss, but not to 3-3 Cal and not in blowout fashion.